The 9th Precinct's nickname is "The Fighting Ninth".
History
The precinct was originally designated as the 15th Precinct. When a new police station, designed by the firm of Hoppin & Koen in 1912, was built at 321 East 5th Street, the 15th Precinct's numbers were carved into the sidewalk pediment. The 15th Precinct became the 9th in 1929 during a citywide renumbering of precincts.
The station-house was closed in May 2002 and demolished. A new, taller building was erected and the original stone facade was re-installed. While the station-house was being rebuilt, the 9th Precinct moved to 130 Avenue C and shared the building with PSA 4, a Housing Police unit that serves the area of Manhattan south of 59th Street. The "Fighting Ninth" moved into its new station-house at 321 East 5th Street on May 18, 2007.
Crime
The 9th Precinct ranked 58th safest out of 69 city precincts for per-capita crime in 2010.[1] The 9th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 78.3% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct saw 0 murders, 40 rapes, 85 robberies, 149 felony assaults, 161 burglaries, 835 grand larcenies, and 32 grand larcenies auto in 2018.[2]
The facade of the precinct's stationhouse at 321 East 5th Street has been used as the setting for several police television series, including Kojak,[3]Cagney and Lacey, NYPD Blue,[4]Castle, and Person of Interest. The precinct is called the 15th in NYPD Blue because those numbers can still be seen carved into the restored sidewalk pediment.[4] The stationhouse facade was also used in the film Glitter.
